4 reasons why Chelsea lost to Tottenham Hotspur
Their unbeaten run lasted longer than anyone's in Europe, but finally reality struck Chelsea. For the first time in England, Maurizio Sarri tasted defeat. Tottenham Hotspur defeated Chelsea 3-1 at the Wembley Stadium in a match the hosts completely dominated.
Any honest Chelsea fan will admit that the scoreline could have easily been a lot worse. From start to finish, The Blues were completely outplayed and outclassed. Numerous things went wrong for Chelsea in the London derby, and here is a look at them.
#4 Jorginho neutralised
It's no secret that Jorginho is the heart of Maurizio Sarri's system. Everything the Italian wishes to do revolves around the former Napoli midfielder. However, Tottenham completely nullified his presence by man-marking him.
This was not the first time an opposing team has done the same, as Everton did the same thing in Chelsea's last match. As is clearly visible, if Chelsea's regista is stopped, the team struggles to play the way the manager wishes them to do.
While Jorginho himself needs to do better, the challenge is on Maurizio Sarri's head. It's a tactical problem he needs to find a solution to. He needs to figure out a way to ensure teams are not able to mark Jorginho out of games so easily. The Italian also needs to find a Plan B for such situations. He needs to give his team an alternative way to build-up play when the Jorginho route is not possible.
This will also require players around to step up, which was not the case yesterday. One performance which was a huge let-down was Mateo Kovacic's. The Croatian is not someone who offers goals and assists, but his control and stability is something Chelsea needs in midfield.
However, that was not the case today as the Real Madrid loanee produced an extremely disappointing performance. He offered nothing going forward, and with Jorginho already neutralised, it inevitably created a situation for Chelsea where there was no creative outlet in midfield.